University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Quotes
January 29, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2003
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TENNESSEE HEAD COACH BUZZ PETERSON
"I'm proud of the way we came out and played tonight. I was concerned about the mental part of it. Sometimes in practice it looked like we've just been going through the motions. We didn't execute well at times, but we scrapped all the way. "It wasn't pretty, but it was a victory. South Carolina played a good game, and they gave us a lot of trouble. They changed defenses and trapped us, which had a lot to do with the fact we wound up with 21 turnovers.
When Ron Slay went out, we wondered what exactly we should do. We tried Boomer Herndon, and finally settled on a smaller lineup. I'm happy for Stanley Asumnu; he gave us a lift, and he gave us a lot of energy on the court. I told Stanley Asumnu and the rest of the team to go out and play with confidence, play positively, and be ready to do the little things to win the game.
"I sat Holden down because he was seven minutes late for our pre-game. I hope Stanley Asumnu continues to build upon what happened tonight. Brandon Crump had a good game, which was very important for us with Ron Slay sidelined. Brandon Crump had a good game, especially on offense."
SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH DAVE ODOM
"I think it was a strange game, to say the least. Both teams played without their principal players for a long time, and you need to give each team credit for playing through it. Both teams played through some adversity. They played pretty well without Ron Slay, and we played well without Rolando Howell, and with Tony Kitchings also in foul trouble.
"It was a tale of two halves. We got no points from the post in the first half, and none from the perimeter other than from Kerbrell Brown. In the second half, Tony Kitchings came to life, and we got just enough from everybody else to stay in there. The turning point came when we were up 42-40, and then ran off 11 points in a row to make it 51-42 before we could get it stopped. Stanley Asumnu was the culprit; he got to the glass, hit the shots, and turned us over. It took a while for us to get him stopped.
"I thought we had a good chance for overtime. We had a full-court play to Ivan Howell, our most dependable 3-point shooter, at least in practice. He had a good look, but it didn't go. You congratulate Tennessee, and try to find as many positives as you can and build on them. You also correct what we didn't do correctly and get ready for the next game."
